Deaths of Notables and News of the People of the Time 6/1

Author's name: Abu al-Abbas ibn Khallikan

Wafiyat al-A'yan is a book of biographies and translations, written by Judge Ibn Khallikan (608-681 AH). The book is considered one of the important books specializing in the science of biographies, and it is considered one of the most important sources in biographies and history. It is a biographical dictionary, a book on history and literary history, but it is more of a book of biographies than a history book. Ibn Khallikan included in some of his biographies the history of the Saffarids, the history of the Seljuk state, the history of the Ubaid state, and the history of the Ayyubid state. In it, Ibn Khallikan translated more than 850 scholars of various caliphs, princes, ministers, scholars, and others.

The historian Ibn Khallikan did not mention in his book a biography of any of the Companions or the Followers except a small group that many people need to know about their circumstances. The same is the case with the Caliphs, as he did not mention any of them, but he mentioned a group of the virtuous people whom he saw and transmitted from them or who were in his time but he did not see them, so that those who come after him would know about their circumstances. Ibn Khallikan did not limit himself to a specific group such as scholars, kings, princes, ministers, or poets, but rather he spoke in his book about everyone who is famous among the people and is asked about, so he mentioned his circumstances, established his death and birth, and raised his lineage and virtues, and he opened it with a brief sermon in which he introduced the book and the motive that prompted him to write it.